This
case has had a long and complex history. To sum it up,
pro se Plaintiff Keith McCoy brought this action
against several employees of Lake County Jail regarding
McCoy's treatment while held as a pretrial detainee. In
McCoy's own words, McCoy is a gay man who identifies as a
woman, DE 1 at 5, and has used feminine pronouns to refer to
herself in her filings. As such, I also have used feminine
pronouns to refer to her in the past and continue to do so
today. After a very long process of repeated amendments to
the complaint, we are left with two claims against five
defendants. The first claim relates to the supposed
misclassification of McCoy when she originally was brought
into the Lake County Jail. McCoy was assigned to the
administrative segregation on the medical floor rather than
general population by Defendants Niecey Gore and Jose
Menchaca, and it is this classification that McCoy says was
unnecessary and punitive. The second claim arises from an
incident involving a fight between McCoy and another inmate
during which McCoy alleges she was stabbed several times and
Defendants Michael Atherton, Curtis Pearson, and Yvonne
Hogan-Foster (“Hogan”) were deliberately
indifferent to her need for medical attention. All five
defendants and McCoy moved for summary judgment on all
claims. Based on the evidence presented to me by the
Defendants on summary judgment, and the lack of evidence
presented to me by McCoy, there appears to be no genuine
issue of material fact in this matter. Because the
classification of McCoy was not done in a punitive way and
because there is no evidence that the Defendants ignored
McCoy's injuries after the fight, summary judgment will
be granted.

Background

This
case arises out of McCoy's pre-trial detention at Lake
County Jail during the period of September 2012 to October
2012. McCoy was incarcerated, booked into the Lake County
Jail, and classified as a pretrial detainee on September 20,
2012. [DE 126-1 at 2.] Defendant Jose Menchaca personally
classified McCoy and placed her in administrative segregation
on the medical floor of the jail purportedly to protect her
from other inmates preying on her and from her potentially
preying on other inmates due to McCoy's sexual
orientation. [Id.] McCoy has presented no evidence
to the contrary and asserts only that she was
“cleared” by medical staff because she is not
transgender and was initially placed and assigned to general
population and then approximately an hour or two later
reclassified to administrative segregation on the medical
floor. [DE 130 at 1.] McCoy presents no evidence that the
reclassification was punitive in nature or for a reason other
than McCoy's protection and the protection of the other
inmates, as Menchaca asserts.

On
October 25, 2012, McCoy was involved in a fight with another
inmate at the Lake County Jail. [DE 128-1.] Defendant
Atherton was one of the officers who responded to the fight
and completed a Jail Log for the incident. [DE 127-2 at 3.]
According to the log, when Atherton entered the room in which
the inmates were fighting, McCoy had blood on her clothes and
the other inmate had a cut over his left eye that was
bleeding. [Id.] There was a broken broomstick on the
floor that was dropped by both inmates. McCoy was examined
and found to have no visible injuries to her person and the
blood on her uniform was from the other inmate's cut.
[Id.]

After
the incident, the officers reviewed security camera footage
of the fight and noted that McCoy threw the first punch and
the other inmate returned several punches. [Id. at
3-4.] The other inmate then grabbed a broomstick and threw it
at McCoy, who picked it up and struck the other inmate in the
face causing the cut above his left eye. [Id. at 4.]
The other inmate then grabbed a broken piece of the
broomstick and attempted to strike McCoy, but was subdued by
McCoy. [Id.]

McCoy
claims that she actually was stabbed in the leg several times
during the fight and was treated by medical staff, who gave
her a shot, cleaned her wound, and applied bandaids. [DE 130
at 2-3.] McCoy cites to exhibits in support of this, but
nothing was attached to her motion for summary judgment.
Notably, McCoy's argument contradicts her allegations in
her complaint that she did not receive any treatment for a
day or two. [DE 13 at 67-72.]

Discussion

All
five Defendants moved for summary judgment and McCoy also
moved for summary judgment. Summary judgment is proper
“if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute
as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to
judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). A
genuine dispute about a material fact exists only “if
the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a
verdict for the non-moving party.” Anderson v.
Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). A
nonmoving party is not entitled to the benefit of
“inferences that are supported by only speculation or
conjecture.” Argyropoulos v. City of Alton,
539 F.3d 724, 732 (7th Cir. 2008) (citations and quotations
omitted).

I will
first quickly address McCoy's response to the
Defendants' motions for summary judgment, raising only
the issue of their timeliness. [DE 133.] All dispositive
motions were to be filed no later than September 5, 2017. [DE
118.] All five Defendants filed their motions for summary
judgment on that date. As such, they are timely.

The
first three Defendants' motions for summary judgment are
pretty straightforward and require little discussion. Based
on the evidence that has been submitted, there is simply
nothing to show that these Defendants were at all involved in
either incident at issue in this case. Let's start with
Defendant Pearson's motion for summary judgment. [DE
124.] According to Pearson's affidavit filed with his
motion for summary judgment, his employment as a Correctional
Officer at the Lake County Jail did not begin until 2014. [DE
124-2.] As such, he could not have been involved in either
incident upon which this action is based. McCoy does not
contest this fact or present any evidence to the contrary. As
such, there is no genuine dispute about a material fact
regarding the claim against Pearson and his motion for
summary judgment is granted.

As for
Defendant Hogan-Foster's motion for summary judgment, [DE
125], it is supported by her own affidavit which states that
her employment with the Lake County Sheriff's Department,
Court Security, began March 1, 1999. [DE 125-2.] Hogan-Foster
states that she has no personal knowledge of Keith McCoy, and
that, critically, she had no contact with her from September
20, 2012 until December 3, 2012. [Id.] McCoy does
not contest this fact or present any evidence to the
contrary. As such, there is no genuine dispute about a
material fact regarding the claim against Hogan-Foster and
her motion for summary judgment is granted.

Next I
turn to Defendant Niecey Gore's motion for summary
judgment. [DE 127.] Gore currently is Assistant Warden for
the Lake County Sheriff's Department. [DE 127-2 at 1.]
Gore states that she was not personally involved or present
at the time Keith McCoy was incarcerated, booked into the
Lake County Jail, and classified as a pretrial detainee.
[Id.] McCoy does not contest this fact or present
any evidence to the contrary. As such, there is no genuine
dispute about a material fact regarding the claim against
Gore, and therefore her motion for summary judgment is
granted.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Let&#39;s
move now to Defendant Jose Menchaca&#39;s motion for summary
judgment. [DE 126.] McCoy alleges that she was punitively
misclassified when she was placed in administrative
segregation on the medical floor. It&#39;s true that Menchaca
is the one who made the classification of McCoy. [DE 126-2 at
1.] But Menchaca states that &ldquo;McCoy was placed in
administrative segregation on the medical floor of the jail,
to protect him from other inmates preying on him and from him
potentially preying on other inmates due to McCoy&#39;s
sexual orientation.&rdquo; [Id.] Menchaca reiterates
that &ldquo;McCoy&#39;s classification was not punitive,
instead it was primarily to protect him.&rdquo;
[Id.] In her motion for summary judgment on the
issue, McCoy asserts only that Menchaca placed McCoy in
administrative segregation on the medical floor despite the
fact that her medical and mental health evaluator had
determined that it was unnecessary and the medical staff
refused to move her ...

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